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Ivy Gibbs
Ivy Olive Gibbs (?1886-1966) was an Australian and New Zealand poet and children’s writer. Life It is thought that Gibbs was born and educated in England. Little is known about her early life. At some point, she moved to Australia and it is possible she was educated at the Hyde Park School of Music in Adelaide 1907-10.The Advertiser, Adelaide, Australia, miscellaneous references 1907-1910 From 1913 to 1918, Gibbs seems to have lived in Coonalpyn, South Australia. Newspaper reports about Coonalpyn associated her with concerts at Coonalpyn Hall socials and fundraisers for the local school and Red Cross Society during World War I.The Advertiser, Adelaide, Australia, miscellaneous references 1913-1918 From 1920 to 1927, her poems in the Sydney Bulletin give her location as New South Wales. Her verses in The Bulletin made her well known between 1920 and 1930 She arrived in New Zealand from Sydney aboard the Ulimaroa in Wellington, 1 June 1926,The Evening Post, 1 June 1926 and is on the New Zealand Electoral Roll for 1928 in Eden, Auckland. In the 1930s, she was on the committee of the New Zealand Women Writers’ and Artists’ Society (1932–34) in Wellington. She was widely published in New Zealand between the late 1920s and 1941. After Gibbs left Wellington in 1934, Pat Lawlor in his regular column ‘Among the Books’ for New Zealand Railways Magazine wrote: “Miss Ivy Gibbs, a writer of slender but charming verse, is now a resident of Napier.”Pat Lawlor, ‘Among the Books’, New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 9, Issue 2, 1 May 1934 The history of the New Zealand Women Writers’ and Artists’ Society says that from Napier she moved to Australia.History of the New Zealand Women’s Writers’ Society 1932-1982, compiled by Thelma France et al, Wellington, 1984 After Australia, she returned to Auckland. The New Zealand Electoral Roll has her as Ivy Gibbs and Ivy Olive Gibbs in Auckland from 1938 to 1963. She is listed as a ‘spinster’ and later ‘retired’. From 1944 to 1949, children’s verse of hers appeared under her full name of ‘Ivy Olive Gibbs’ in the international newspaper The Christian Science Monitor in Boston, North America. 2 books of her poetry were published in England: Six Days in a Pensive Mood (1949) and The Day is in a Pensive Mood (1949). The latter book is held by the Hocken Library in Dunedin, New Zealand. Gibbs died in Auckland on 3 October 1966. She was 80 years of age, suggesting her birth was 1865 or 1866. A service was held for her at the Waikumete Chapel Crematorium on Thursday 6 October 1966.New Zealand Herald, 5 October 1966 Writing The Bulletin (1920-1930) and literary magazine New Zealand Mercury (1933-1936) collect much of Gibbs’s poetry. A critic referred to her in Sydney, Australia, 1923, as ‘the golden-haired and golden-hearted girl who has written much delightful verse this year.’''The Mail'', Adelaide, 31 March 1932 Prior to The New Zealand Mercury and while appearing in The Bulletin, Gibbs also published verse in the New Zealand Radio Record and various Australian papers and journals such as the Sydney Morning Herald, Green Room May, Birth: A Little Journal of Australian Poetry, the Triad, and the Australian Woman’s Mirror. She had further publications in the Advocate in Burnie and the Launceston Examiner, both in Tasmania, 1937-41 (some republished from the Auckland New Zealand Herald). Gibbs also wrote notable World War II poems: ‘Requiescat in Pace’''Advocate'', Burnie, Tasmania, 18 November 1940 and ‘Death’s No Enemy’''Advocate'', Burnie, Tasmania, 5 July 1941 both originally published in the New Zealand Herald and later in the Burnie Advocate. Recognition Her poem 'The Thrush' appeared in the anthology of contemporary New Zealand verse Kowhai Gold (1930), edited by Quentin Pope, reproduced from The Bulletin, 21 July 1927, and another in A Gift Book of New Zealand Verse (1931) edited by “John O’ Dreams” (Helen Longford) reproduced from the New Zealand Radio Record. In 2012, New Zealand poet, editor and critic Mark Pirie compiled a bio-bibliography for Gibbs.Ivy Gibbs: A Bio-bibliography, Mark Pirie, Cultural and Political Booklets, Wellington, 2012 Publications Poetry *''The Day is in a Pensive Mood, and other poems''. Ilfracombe, UK: Arthur H. Stockwell, 1949. *''Six Days in a Pensive Mood, and other poems''. Ilfracombe, UK: Arthur H. Stockwell, 1949. *''Young Moon: Collected and uncollected poems from 'The Bulletin', 1920-1930'' (edited by Mark Pirie). Wellington: Original Books, 2012. *''The Wind Boy, and other uncollected poems, 1924-1941'' (edited by Mark Pirie). Wellington: Original Books, 2012. Juvenile *''A Golden Ship, and other uncollected poems for children'' (edited by Mark Pirie). Wellington: Original Books, 2012. Except where noted, bibliographical information courtesy WorldCat.Search results = au:Ivy Gibbs, WorldCat, OCLC Online Computer Library Center Inc. Web, Apr. 12, 2014. See also *List of Australian poets *List of New Zealand poets References External links ;Poems *"The Thrush' in Kowhai Gold *"Young Moon" Category:1866 births Category:1966 deaths Category:New Zealand women poets Category:20th-century poets Category:20th-century women writers Category:English-language poets Category:New Zealand poets Category:New Zealand women writers Category:Poets Category:Women poets Category:Children's poets